RCMP investigate suspicious truck fire on Mac Island

A stack of pallet jacks and a propane canister in the cab led RCMP to believe a stolen Dodge pickup truck was torched on purpose.

Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said the vehicle's identification number confirmed the burned out hulk that sat in a McArthur Island parking lot Tuesday morning is a blue 1995 Dodge Supercab pickup stolen from Falkland.

The owner reported the Dodge stolen on Tuesday, he said. A crew from Kamloops Fire and Rescue asked police to attend a vehicle fire on McArthur Island at about 2:30 a.m.

"They were on the scene battling with a vehicle fire that they believed was suspicious," said Learned. "The fire crews indicated at the onset that they believed the fire had been burning for half an hour before they arrived on scene."

The truck was engulfed in flames, but the remnants of wood pallets were found in the box and a small propane canister located in the cab, he said. The canister appeared to have ruptured.

Given how hot the fire burned, investigators had to wait several hours before they could search through the ashes. Fire Insp. Ray Webster said there is almost nothing left of the vehicle.

"It's burned through and through," said Webster. "There's not a piece of plastic, glass or material left inside."

Webster did find a thin, one-inch strip of blue paint, a propane canister in the cab and wood in the box, he said.

"Did that cause it, or was it a victim of?" he said, adding the cause of the fire will be undetermined.

There is a chance the pallets and propane had nothing to do with the fire, but they are suspicious, said Learned. The matter will be investigated.

"There's some of those lingering questions that need to be answered," he said.